Former executive of Monsanto fined for bribing Indonesian official

WASHINGTON — A former executive at Monsanto, the world's biggest developer of genetically modified crops, has been fined $30,000 for bribing an Indonesian official in an unsuccessful bid to repeal an environmental rule, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said.

Charles Martin, Monsanto's former government affairs director in Asia, violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in 2002 when he told a consultant to pay a senior Indonesian environmental official $50,000, the SEC said Tuesday. Martin arranged to book the bribe as part of the consultant's fee.

The SEC said that Martin had sought repeal of an Indonesian environmental ruling requiring Monsanto to assess environmental impact before planting genetically modified cottonseed.

Even after the bribe, the official did not change the law.

Martin neither admitted nor denied the accusations in agreeing to settle the SEC's civil lawsuit, which was filed at U.S. District Court in Washington, the SEC said. His attorney, Richard Scheff, did not return a phone message seeking comment.

Lori Fisher, a spokeswoman for Monsanto, said Tuesday's action was "strictly between the individual and the SEC."

Monsanto paid $1.5 million in settlements with the SEC and the U.S. Department of Justice in 2005 over the same bribe, as well as for other questionable payments in Indonesia. In fining Monsanto, the SEC said the company's Indonesian affiliates also made at least $700,000 in illicit payments to at least 140 current and former Indonesian officials and their families. The payments were partially financed through unauthorized, improperly documented and inflated sales of Monsanto's pesticide products in the country.

Christopher Conte, an SEC official on the case, said in an interview that the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act remained "a significant part of our enforcement program, and we certainly intend to pursue not only entities, but individuals."